Guiding Light of The Month

Grant, O Divine Teacher, that we may know and accomplish our mission upon earth better and better, more and more, that we may make full use of all the energies that are in us, and Thy sovereign Presence become manifest ever more perfectly in the silent depths of our soul, in all our thoughts, all our feelings, all our actions.
- The Mother

As has been traditionally inferred, the flame has been a symbol of hope, power of vision, Light, an agent of purification and aspiration, always rising up in an ardent yearning to realize itself and at the same time, always submitting a prayer to this end, to higher forces, far above the limitations of the human might. In the epic poem Savitri, the flame is a personification of Savitri herself, who is the full form of all that a flame represents. The Canto titled, “Growth of the Flame”, is the theme of this edition of the Newsletter. In this Canto, Sri Aurobindo brings alive in our consciousness the wonder of the Flame’s growth from its birth in time, towards a full-blown manifestation of divinity that it might take up arms against falsehood and ignorance and illusion, at the appointed time and place.

An earthly place of unearthly charm and beauty

“Harboured the childhood of the incarnate Flame.

Over her watched millennial influences

And the deep godheads of a grandiose past

Looked on her and saw the future’s godheads come

As if this magnet drew their powers unseen.”

It is evident here that this Flame that was being nurtured was no ordinary Flame. Or perhaps it was not even nurtured; It was there growing of its own strength and might, and was preparing the divine ground for future greatnesses to come, and which come as if pulled by that Flame alone. These few lines in themselves give us a direct indication of the vast Divine plan for earth. It was an announcement of the coming of a Force that would change the earth and manifest God’s greatness here. This was Savitri, the Flame, God’s gift to the yearning aspiration of one man, to save the world.

The symbol of the Flame may also be extended, if we allow, to the growth of our own innermost being, hidden deep within, veiled by layers after layers. This revelation of the innermost being, also known as the Psychic Being in Sri Aurobindo’s Integral Yoga, is akin to a growth of a flame, when it comes forward to the forefront, showing itself more and more as the growth process progresses till finally it stands unveiled at the front of the being, influencing all its parts and planes and leading it simultaneously to a Life Divine where every act and move is a Divine sanction executed by the enlightened being, as it proceeds to open itself to the manifestation of Divinity in the earthen clay. How does this growth take place? How do we remove the layers which block the real Person within? How do we unmask ourselves, removing those masks we have put over us knowingly and without any consciousness of them? It is indeed a tall order. But this human birth is also worthy of reverence. There is an opportunity, so it seems, given to us to realize the greatness, the flame within so that life may assume a beauty and light, its right, now veiled. The process has to be worked out in each individual with clues along the way, as we journey on in life.

This month of November also sees two important occasions. On the 17th, we remember The Mother’s Mahasamadhi Day. This will be observed as a day of silence. On 24th we observe the 91st anniversary of Siddhi Day or the day of Victory, signifying the descent of the Overmental or Krishna’s Light into the Earth plane in 1926.